Twilio, the leading cloud communications platform company, today announced the acquisition of Authy, a leading provider of authentication as-a-service for large-scale Web and mobile applications. Together, Twilio and Authy will address the growing need for stronger authentication methods in an increasingly-connected world. User identity is core to secure communications, and businesses need a simple and more cost-effective way to validate user identity. With Authy, Twilio now provides a cloud-based API to seamlessly embed two-factor authentication (2FA) and phone verification into any application. Twilio and Authy have been working together since 2012. The underlying Voice and SMS communications for Authy will continue to be powered by Twilio.

With password theft up 1,400 percent since 2009 and consumer fraud losses increasing to $16 billion in 2014, passwords are no longer enough. Authy automates security best practices and detailed policy management, simplifying the implementation of strong authentication for websites, mobile, and SaaS applications by developers. Over 6,000 websites including Coinbase, MercadoLibre, and CloudFlare depend on Authy to prevent malicious attacks and help protect users against fraud and account takeover. When combined with Twilio's global reach to more than 500,000 registered developers and businesses, coverage in over 200 countries and 24x7 customer support, the companies are paving the way for broad adoption of enhanced authentication in all applications.

Authy President Marc Boroditsky cited to Let’s Talk Payments:

"Twilio's scale and reach combined with Authy's consumer-centric 2 Factor Authentication solution makes it possible for us to easily tackle any level of requirement and to leap frog other web and mobile security alternatives to replace passwords -- which are inherently weak and difficult to manage. What's unique about our solution is that consumers truly enjoy using it -- the interface is elegant and the flow of the authentication process with Authy is relatively easy. People love the fact that our product is simpler to use than passwords, yet more secure, and there's nothing to remember since the the mobile interface generates the code that you must enter for authentication.

This concern for creating user friction has traditionally outweighed financial institutions' willingness to adopt true strong authentication for the consumer. But today, with more people transacting online, with the frequency and dollar values of these transactions increasing, and with criminal activity shifting to credential fraud, the stakes are much higher. The option to not offer stronger authentication will soon be gone as forward-thinking banks and alternative financial institutions and payment processors such as Coinbase (bitcoin wallet) begin to offer 2FA to their customer bases."

Customers such as Box, Intuit and DocuSign use Twilio today for identity verification. By adding Authy capabilities to the Twilio platform, existing customers gain better policy management and reporting capabilities.

"The combination of Twilio and Authy is a win-win for everyone. Together we will accelerate customer adoption in three critical areas," said Daniel Palacio, founder and CEO of Authy. "First, the combination of our SaaS services allows Authy to better serve our customers via Twilio's infrastructure and support services. Second, joining Twilio means our team can focus on what we do best -- enhancing our strong authentication services and building great new identity products. Lastly, Twilio's global communications infrastructure paves the way for increased adoption of Authy 2FA to users worldwide -- this allows us to stay true to our mission of providing not only the strongest, but also the most user-friendly, strong authentication solution available."

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